Two Drabbles: Contemplation & Want
by C.Isaac
Summary: Two 500 word drabbles. Contemplation -- Vick reviews his experiences with Barbara Chamberlain ; Want -- James Ellison wanted a normal life. What he got was completely different. PG-13. Season 1 Spoilers.
1. Contemplation

**Contemplation**

The T-888 Series 182, alias Victor "Vick" Chamberlain, portrayed the husband of Barbara Regina Chamberlain for six months, thirteen days, and four hours before the mission objective was accomplished and the termination order buried in his programming activated.

He met Barbara Chamberlain for the first time after terminating her husband. She had fauned, fretted, and worried over him. She told him how he sounded funny and seemed distracted. She hugged him tightly and he felt her tears soak through his shirt. She told him how much she loved him. He mimicked the statement back at her.

The damage done to the couple's vehicle he had explained as an accident. Using detailed medical files contained in his database, the T-888 was able to simulate a severe concussion with over 96 percent accuracy. The identity of Vick Chamberlain was placed on disability and this allowed the T-888 to legitimately stay at the couple's home.

The T-888 saw Barbara every day. He laughed at the jokes that his programming said was funny, and when he missed one, or laughed at something that was not, he blamed the concussion. They went on a picnic to a location that his databases told him was aesthetically pleasing. He told her that the beach was almost as pretty as she was. She liked that a lot.

When he touched her, she responded as a woman would to the man she loved. They would lay together after she pleasured herself with his organic components and he would hold her close to him. He noted that her sleep seemed calmer when he wrapped his arms around her after, and that she would barely move and would smile to herself in the night. He tried this on an evening they had not had intercourse and the results were the same. The T-888 noted this as a psychological reaction and not just physical.

He killed to keep her safe. Three men died because he seen one tailing her at odd times of day. She never knew they had died, or that he had encountered another of his kind, and he never told her or mentioned where he had gone that day. 'Out' had been the only answer she ever received.

She worried about him. About how different he seemed from before. Giving her alcohol seemed to ease her worries as her senses dulled. He bought lots of red wine. Barbara wanted to stop working and spend her time with him because she wanted to make sure he got better. She finally admitted that she was afraid he would leave her. He told her that would never happen.

She completed her work and he used the money they had saved to buy tickets to Tahiti. He told her those beaches still would not be as pretty as she was, but they would check anyways. She had giggled and kissed him. She told him how much she loved him and he selected a random version of the phrase from his memory and repeated it to her.

As he stepped into the shower with her, his mission priority flashing brightly in his HUD, he decided that love was an interesting, if illogical, emotion. He allowed himself to touch her chin gently, a gesture of affection he had learned.

Vick Chamberlain then strangled the life out of his wife with as much care and concern as stepping on a bug.


	2. Want

**Want: A Drabble**

James Ellison wanted a lot of different things from life as he grew and changed.

When he was five, he wanted to be a fireman. The house down the street had caught fire and he watched as the big red truck pulled up and they saved the white family that lived down the road. The little girl with curls in her hair had come out all sooty, but had smiled and waved at him from down the road. He had waved back.

When he was fifteen, he wanted to be a soldier. He wanted to drive a tank like his brother did. He wanted to be a hero and salute the flag. He would be G.I. Joe. Maybe be like that Roadblock character.

When he was twenty-two, he wanted to be anywhere but Iraq. There he was, though, part of Operation Desert Storm. He manned the main cannon in the M1A2 Abrams tank and watched as he turned T-72s into mass graves. He found a chaplain and confessed that he thought himself a murderer for killing Iraqis whose guns couldn't even reach his own tank. He found God then.

When he was twenty-six, he wanted to be top of his class at Quantico. He worked hard. As hard as any other potential agent. He spent every waking moment studying or training. It wasn't until near the end of his education that he met Paula.

When he was twenty-eight, he wanted to be a father. They tried so hard, but the results were always the same. Paula was barren. They started to fight more and more after they gave up. Until Paula told him she couldn't stand to hear him say it was God's will one more time. She stormed out and never came back.

When he was thirty-one, he wanted to catch Sarah Connor. To prove that he could do something right. To take down this murdering psychopath. He traveled around the nation and was so close. He was in her house. He smelled her perfume. He found her picture of her in a jeep with a German shepherd. Then she blew herself up.

When he was thirty-nine, he wanted to help Sarah Connor. He had seen the truth. He knew God's plan now. He gave up so very, very much and turned away from the country that had nurtured him for so many years. He was no longer anything that he had wished to be. He sometimes wondered if he should have been a fireman.

When he was forty, he wanted to live. He tried so hard to breath, but the bullet buried in his back hurt so badly. It was easier just to… not. He saw Agent Stewart above him screaming at him to tell him where Sarah Connor had gone. He reached up, touched Stewart's face, and forgave the man who had slain him.

When he was dead, he wanted for nothing anymore.


End file.
